Beyond Boundaries

Essays on Theology, Dialogue, and Religion in Honor of Perry Schmidt-Leukel

Melanie Barbato, Mathias Schneider, Fabian Völker (Editor) with the assistance of Madlen Krüger

Perry Schmidt-Leukel has made significant contributions to the academic study of religion and religious diversity through his innovative work in Theology and Religious Studies. In his publications, he has not only overcome apologetic barriers between Buddhism and Christianity and demonstrated the potential for mutual enrichment of various religious traditions in dialogue, but also championed a pluralist Theology of Religions. On this pluralist basis, Schmidt-Leukel has developed the vision of a theology beyond boundaries, which takes the form of interreligious discourse and draws on the rich resources and insights of the global history of religions.

The Celestial Web: Buddhism and Christianity - A Different Comparison

Perry Schmidt-Leukel

In his ground-breaking Gifford Lectures, published as Religious Pluralism & Interreligious Dialogue, Perry Schmidt-Leukel introduced his “fractal” theory of religions, challenging the tendency to distinguish religious traditions as discrete entities without acknowledging the wide variety within them, varieties essentially reproduced in different religious traditions.

After offering an introduction to this new methodology to comparative religion, Schmidt-Leukel, in The Celestial Web, applies this method to a comparison between Buddhism and Christianity. Some of the points of comparison include their respective approaches to the world, ultimate reality, the “dark side” of human existence, and salvation/liberation in terms of the figures mediating it.

Stereotypical approaches often treat these traditions as opposites, for instance, positing that Buddhism embraces an impersonal absolute, whereas Christianity affirms the primacy of one’s relationship with a personal God. Yet the fractal approach, which examines “intra-religious” varieties within the two traditions, reveals surprising points of congruence.

Euro-Buddhism and the Role of Christianity

Papers from the 13th Conference of the European Network of Buddhist-Christian Studies

Kurt Gakuro Krammer (ed.)  John O'Grady (ed.) Martin Rötting (ed.)

In the late nineteenth century Buddhism began to be practised in Europe and was often presented by its European followers as a persuasive alternative to Christianity. Buddhism in Europe was less a result of missionary activities from Asian countries than the consequence of propagation by Europeans, who studied Buddhism through various literary sources. However, these European Buddhists sought connections to Asian countries from a comparatively early stage onwards, and organizations such as the Mahābodhi Society came to play an important role in the early days. In the twenty-first century, new configurations of the dialogue between Buddhism and Christianity are being formed, always in relation to developments within the larger faith-traditions out of which individual Buddhist and Christian denominational forms have come.

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DA! - Gedichte

Sybille Fritsch

Sybille Frisch ist vielen Leserinnen und Lesern als Lyrikerin, Philosophin und Religions- und Kulturwissenschaftlerin bestens bekannt. In Lyriksammlungen und mit Einzelveröffentlichungen ist sie seit 1980 im literarischen Bereich vertreten.

„DA!“ ist der Titel dieses neuen Bandes, der jetzt zu Beginn des Jahres im Geest- Verlag erschienen ist. Er weist auf die Auseinandersetzung der Autorin mit fernöstlichem, besonders zen-buddhistischem Gedankengut und mystischen Traditionen hin. Sie unternimmt damit eine Wanderung zwischen den Welten. Ein Innehalten. Ein Dazwischen. Das gilt für Gedanke und Tat, für Religion und Politik, für Himmel und Erde, für Ost und West: „Offene Weite – nichts von Heilig“.

Buddhistische Interpretationen Jesu

Mathias Schneider

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Wie wird Jesus Christus im Buddhismus wahrgenommen? Dieser in der Forschung bislang vernachlässigten Frage geht Mathias Schneider in einer umfassenden Studie nach. Er analysiert die ganze Bandbreite buddhistischer Interpretationen Jesu, die von der Dämonisierung bis zur Einordnung als Buddha reicht. Seine religionshistorische Untersuchung umfasst die globale buddhistisch-christliche Begegnungsgeschichte – vom 16. Jahrhundert bis in die Gegenwart und von Sri Lanka über Thailand, Japan, China, Vietnam, Tibet und Deutschland bis in die USA. Im Anschluss daran untersucht der Autor die theologischen Rückwirkungen für die christliche Theologie, wenn diese sich auf buddhistische Jesusdeutungen einlässt oder sie ablehnt. Am Ende steht die Frage nach den Möglichkeiten einer interreligiösen, buddhistisch-christlichen Christologie.